RUSH: And not only that, Obama cannot give them work permits. Obama cannot hand out benefits to these people. That is appropriating money. Only the Congress can appropriate money. Only the Congress can write law that appropriates benefits. The president just can’t start handing out things like this. He can’t do it.

Now, this action tonight, it does bring the governors into the equation, but I don’t know quite how that’s gonna work out yet. Only time will tell. Governor Perry, Texas, is gonna sue him. Well, how long is that gonna take? I mean, but the governors are gonna be brought into this somehow. This is not just gonna happen in a vacuum. Our previous caller was on to something. It’s just we’re gonna have to wait and see how it all shakes out. ‘Cause this is uncharted territory.

We’ve never had a ceremony where the Constitution was violated. We’ve never had a primetime address with a nation tuning in with a bunch of people throwing a party where the Constitution gets clipped. In a way, parts of this are unprecedented. And this assertion of prosecutorial discretion, he’s rewriting federal law and he doesn’t have the authority to do that.

This isn’t prosecutorial discretion. I mean, they’re using it, and they’ve got Toobin out there on CNN trying to back him up. But that’s not even what they’re doing. Because he’s rewriting law here. Even he admits that. Executive amnesty, executive action, executive order, he’s writing law. In addition to not enforcing it, he’s writing law. He doesn’t have the authority. He has said it himself, Obama has, repeatedly, a year ago, over and over, when he said he wasn’t an emperor. He has no power in this matter, let alone any kind of discretion in legislating.

By the way, I asked just before the break, is anybody asking why he’s doing this? There are a number of different answers to that. I mean, one straight-up answer is that he says he’s acting because Congress won’t pass a law that he demands. Well, tough toenails, Mr. President. That happens all the time. Just because Congress doesn’t give you what you want doesn’t mean you have the power to go make it happen. It’s called separation of powers.

The Constitution’s being corrupted and perverted and stood upside down on its head tonight, and everybody is throwing a party. Well, people on our side are not throwing a party, but everybody’s all hopped up and excited to watch. This offends my sensibilities like I can’t begin to even describe to you.

Now the “why is he doing it?” Well, of course some might say he’s concerned with his legacy. Frankly, I think legacy is the last thing on his mind here. I don’t think that’s where Obama’s ego goes. I know he’s got a big ego and all that. Folks, let’s take 12 million, 20, whatever the number is. What is the pressing need to do this? There is no need to do this. This is all politics. The inspiration, motivation, demand, desire, whatever it is propelling this is all politics. It’s not compassion. It’s not concern for human beings. It’s none of that.

That’s not why this is happening. It’s not because the immigration law is broken. It isn’t. It’s just not being enforced. The immigration law on the book is fine. It’s actually quite good. You’re not allowed to be here illegally. And if you’re found you’ll be deported. It’s just not being enforced, and because it’s not being enforced, Obama’s running around saying it’s broken and he wants Congress to give him a new law, and they won’t so he’s gonna write his own. He can’t.

This is how fragile our system is, the honor system. Adherence, respect for the Constitution, if that’s not present, if you elect a president that does not have that respect or reverence for it, then it isn’t any good. It’s just a piece of paper. It may be hundreds of years old, but it’s just a piece of paper, and in this case it’s a meaningless piece of paper to our current president. And if it doesn’t mean anything, then it can’t get in his way.

This is how precarious — well, what if, we have how many, 43 previous presidents? What if any one of them at any point in our history, “You know what? This Constitution, this is bollocks” and just threw it away and created his own government? You’re shaking your head. (interruption) Snerdley is saying it would never happen like that. The press would stir it up, somebody would throw ’em out.

It’s happening is my point. And the press is not stirred up. The press is supporting it. The press is doing everything they can to make this happen. The press is encouraging this. The press is providing cover for this. The press is not defending and protecting the Constitution, even though they are specifically spelled out in it. The press has become totally compliant and slavish to the emperor. But there’s another reason why. Why do this? What is the practical result of this?

After he does this, you’re gonna have more foreign workers that are all of a sudden flooding the job market. You’re gonna have 5.5, six million people after tonight legally, quote, unquote, flooding the job market. That number is greater than the number of jobs that have been created in this country since 2009, since Obama took office. This is going to overwhelm the country’s abilities. It’s going to overwhelm the free market economy, the free enterprise economy. It is going to overwhelm the welfare system.

It’s going to put pressure like we’ve never seen. This is going to totally break down any semblance of order. This is a direct attack on the structure and foundation of this country, is what this is. And it’s all being disguised as compassion for the downtrodden and the homeless and the hungry and the thirsty and the abandoned and the separated and what have you. And others say, “No, it’s restitution for criminal acts committed by this country long ago. It’s simply getting even.” There’s all kinds of reasons for doing this. But those that would fall under the label of common sense, you can’t find any.

It’s just mind-boggling here to absorb all this. And it’s classic. Create a crisis out of nothing, and then build it and build it and build it and build it. And then get to the point where we gotta do something immediately or else, like the financial crisis. “If we don’t do these bailouts in 24 hours, the world financial system’s gonna collapse.” And two weeks later they were telling us the same thing. “You got 24 hours to do TARP or else it’s curtains for the world economy.” Two weeks later they were still telling us we had 24 hours.

This is part of Obama’s sworn objective to transform this country into something that it was not founded to be. And the sad thing is, you’ve got political partisans on both sides who claim that it’ll benefit them. Chamber of Commerce, “Hey, man, we’ll get some cheap labor here to clip the hedges.” And on the left, “My God, look at all the brand-new underclass registered Democrats we’re gonna have in a few years.” I don’t know. It’s an abject disaster.